Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, Kaunas

Holy Resurrection Church is an Orthodox church in Kaunas, built in 1862.

The church was constructed in 1862 on the area of the local Orthodox cemetery. Initially it belonged to St. Alexander Nevsky parish, but in 1882, due to the constant growth of the number of Orthodox Russians living in the city, it was made a parish church as well. From 1884 on, the church ran a parish school.

The church was closed after the Germans entered to Kaunas during the I World War. As soon as Lithuania regained independence, the new government confiscated all the Orthodox churches in Kaunas, regarding them as signs of intensive russification, leaving only the smallest one - Holy Resurrection Church - in the hands of Russian Orthodox Church. In 1923 the church was renovated and reconsecrated by the Lithuanian Orthodox metropolitan Elevferiy (Bogojavlensky). At this moment, the church was elevated to the rank of the cathedral of Vilnius and all Lithuania Orthodox diocese, despite its small dimensions. This decision was caused by the fact that Vilnius, the traditional capital of the diocese, was annexed by Poland. Although Metropolitan Elevferiy was forced to move to Kaunas, the name of the diocese was never changed.

The metropolitan soon realised that the small church cannot practically serve as the cathedral and he planned to have it rebuilt, to make it far bigger one. He set up a special comission that was to choose the best project of this transformation. However, in 1930 the idea was abandoned, because the local government agreed to support financially the construction of a new Orthodox cathedral. The Annunciation cathedral was therefore built between 1932 and 1935, in the neighbourhood of Holy Resurrection Church. Straight after its consecration this church lost the cathedral status and was transformed into an auxiliary church of the newly built one, with services held only during the major feasts.

In 1947 the Soviet government agreed to open the church, which was to function just like before the war. In 1957 the building was renovated. However, only four years later the local government decided that the Annunciation parish didn't need two churches and turned the Holy Resurrection church into an office. All the original church equipment was transferred to the cathedral at this moment. In 2000, the church was given back to the Orthodox diocese, but it's still closed, with only one icon kept inside to stress the sacral character of the place.

Sources

• G. Shlevis, Православные храмы Литвы, Свято-Духов Монастыр, Vilnius 2006, ISBN 9986-559-62-6